Hi all...just purchased a nice Imperial Navy dagger, has a Royal Cypher of a German Graf on the blade, over an "H"...was hoping to get a bit of help ID'ing the original owner...
Luc
Luc
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D'oh...no luck posting the photo of the cypher....just joined the Association, guess it hasn't been processed yet...if anyone is willing to take the email lateral pass of the photo so it can be posted, please advise....
Luc -
Happily for Luc, there was but a SINGLE "Count H" in the Imperial German navy. There is an outside chance-- and ONLY if Marine Infantry officers ever wore the "zur See" Executive Corps dagger, which I think was not possible--there was one other possible.
He was the scion of an ancient, early 12th century French aristocratic family, which migrated into Spain in the mid 16th century, serving as senior officers there for over a century before the expanse of the Holy Roman Empire drew them into Bohemia in the mid 18th century-- just in time to become involuntary Prussians!
Archibald (yes, STOP that!
) Graf von Harbuval genannt Chamaré, Herr auf Hassitz, Kreis Glatz was born 3 July 1882 in Stolz, 4th son of Anton Graf von Harbuval gen. Chamaré (d. 1895) and Therese née Gräfin von Schlabrendorf (d. 1898).
Oldest brother Felix apparently never served in the military, though brothers Leonard (WW1 Rittmeister, Königs-Ulanen) and Kosmas (WW1 Oberleutnant 2. Garde-Ulanen) did. Another brother, Pius, died in 1903. Sisters were Monika, married as Gräfin von Thun und Hohenstein in Bozen, Switzerland, and Maria Theresia, who died in 1917 as Gräfin Ceschia a Santa-Croce.
Now for Archibald's naval career:
entered as a Seekadett 10 April 1901
Leutnant zur See 29.9.04 R6r and aboard S.M.S. "Zähringen" 1905
Oberleutnant zur See 22.8.07 and in IVth Marine Artillery Btn 1908.
(the 3 years rather than 2 in promotion time = not an Abitur holder)
Kapitänleutnant zur See 22.3.13 V
At the outbreak of WW! he was navigation Officer of S.M.S. "München" and had been awarded a Mecklenburg-Schwerin Griffin Order-Knight while still an Oberleutnant zS.
He was a "Berater" to the Commandant of Sylt Island until November 1914, then at disposition of the IINd Weft Division to April 1915.
Mysteriously, he RETIRED from active duty 23 April 1915 BUT was immediately sent off as a war's duration "aD" officer (what would be "zV" in WW2) as
a platoon leader in the Meditteranean Division's "Landing Corps"-- at Gallipoli until January 1916!!! He was then posted on "special duty in Asia Minor" until his death, in Beirut, Lebanon, on 12 August 1916. German naval personnel were sent all over the sandy interior of the Ottoman Empire, so exactly what he was up to remains unclear. His "retirement" is "fishy," to say the least-- since it obviously was not related to his fitness to serve on not only active, but Extreme Active duty.
He was unmarried.
Sources:
Naval rank Lists 1905, 1908, 1914
1914-1918 Honor Rank List of the Imperial Navy
1921 Helden-Gedenkmappe (German Noble War Dead)Last edited by Rick Lundström; 08-01-2003, 10:09 AM.Comment
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Just great, I have "Archie's" Dagger...
Hopefully he did something good
Thanks alot Rick!!!Comment
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